The music industry has been locked in a complicated relationship with artificial intelligence for the past two years. There are several AI-powered platforms that can generate catchy tunes in seconds. However, they usually do this by “learning” from millions of copyrighted songs while the original artists never get a compensation. With that in mind, Sony Group may have figured out how to detect the human influences hidden in synthetic tracks to label these songs as AI-generated.
Sony’s new tech can track original songs inside AI-generated music
Imagine listening to an AI-generated song and being able to pinpoint exactly which artists influenced its sound. The new system from Sony uses a method called “neural fingerprinting” that analyzes AI tracks to estimate how much licensed work they use. It doesn’t just look for direct copies; it identifies the underlying patterns and data used during the AI’s training process.
The system is remarkably precise. According to early reports, it can quantify influence in percentages—for example, determining that a specific track is 30% influenced by The Beatles and 10% by Queen. Sony aims to create a fair way for rights holders to claim compensation when their creative work is used to power new, synthetic music.
Cooperation or calculation?
There are two ways this technology can function. Ideally, AI developers would grant Sony access to their “base models” to allow for a direct and transparent analysis. However, if a developer doesn’t want to cooperate, the system can still work from the outside. In these cases, it compares the AI-generated output to a huge database of existing music to guess which original tracks were probably used to train the AI.
This AI generated music tracking system is particularly significant for Sony. The company controls a massive portion of global music history, including half of Michael Jackson’s catalog. By turning attribution into a measurable metric, the company wants to transform AI from a threat into a potential revenue stream for human songwriters and performers.
That said, the success of this technology depends heavily on the industry’s willingness to adopt it. Some critics argue that AI companies are more focused on improving performance than protecting intellectual property. Furthermore, the global legal landscape is still catching up. While Japan’s copyright laws are robust, global standards for “AI royalties” are still being written.
Sony hasn’t yet set a date for a public rollout of this AI-generated music tracking tool. Let’s hope more news about this emerges soon. If successful, this technology could become a standard tool for licensing negotiations.